Personal Health | News and NotesOn the ski slopes, helmets reduce the risk of injury Although lots of children wear helmets on the ski slopes, not many adults do. Ski resorts typically don't require it. Researchers at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo were so intrigued they decided to examine the helmet habits of thousands of injured and noninjured skiers and snowboarders at eight major Norwegian alpine resorts during the 2002 winter season. In last week's Journal of the American Medical Association, they reported that using a helmet reduced the athletes' risk of head injury by 60 percent. Opponents of mandatory helmet use claim that heavy helmets - through a "guillotine effect" - may actually increase the risk for neck injuries. But researchers found just the opposite. All of this was true not just for injuries on the groomed runs, where the more cautious skiers and snowboarders are likely to be, but where the wild things go, too: the snowboard park and off-piste, or backcountry area. - Virginia A. Smith Pesticide levels drop when kids follow organic diet
Organic foods lower children's dietary exposure to two common pesticides used in agricultural production, according to a study by Chensheng Lu of Emory University in Atlanta. Lu, assistant professor in the environmental and occupational health department, measured the exposure of malathion and chlorpyrifos in 23 elementary school students in the Seattle area by testing their urine over 15 days. The children ate normally for three days at the beginning of the trial and seven at the end, with five days of organic food in between. While consuming the organic food, the children's urine samples contained nondetectable pesticide levels. Levels went up once they returned to their normal diets. The organic diet's protective effect was "dramatic and immediate," said Lu, who recently presented his findings to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. - Virginia A. Smith Avoid certain citrus fruits when taking heart drugs Heart patients on daily medication to control blood pressure, help circulation and lower cholesterol should avoid certain citrus fruits because they could trigger negative side effects, according to cardiologist Muhamed Saric of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Fruits including grapefruit; limes; Seville oranges, which are bitter and used mostly in preserves; and tangelos, a hybrid of grapefruit and tangerine, can increase the potency of many heart drugs, possibly causing muscle pain, changes in blood pressure or abnormal liver tests. Saric urges patients to consult their doctors or pharmacists. And he notes that sweet oranges, lemons, tangerines and citrons, a lemonlike fruit that's often dried, typically don't cause problems with heart medications. - Virginia A. Smith When it come to socks, nylon is better for blisters Sweaty feet don't cotton to cotton, a new study says. Cotton socks cause the most friction when moist, a condition that can create blisters, while nylon socks performed best and cotton-nylon blends performed somewhere in the middle. The study was designed to measure blister-causing friction, which can cause difficulties for diabetics with circulation problems and people who wear prosthetics. Biological engineering students at the University of Missouri-Columbia tested 10 common brands of athletic socks with a stepping device that measured moisture and friction. The researchers didn't look at whether nylon socks were hotter or smellier than their cotton counterparts. John Sullivan
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